Crossword Genius

Blunt statement in house encountered with sorrow (4,5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

home truth

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'blunt statement' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'house encountered with sorrow' is the wordplay.
'house' becomes 'ho' (abbreviation for house).
'encountered' becomes 'met' ('meet' can be a synonym of 'encounter').
'with sorrow' becomes 'ruth' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'ho'+'met'+'ruth'='HOME TRUTH'

'in' is the link.

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(Other definitions for home truth that I've seen before include "uncomfortable fact" , "Blunt statement" , "Unpleasant fact person is made to face about himself" , "Unpleasant fact told to someone about themselves" , "Wounding mention of another's weakness" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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